When I got into the industry more than 50 years ago, finance was an adjunct to the real economy.Basically it was used to finance real growth. But today it’s become the dominant factor in the world.That is, finance is running the world and the real economy is kind of a sideline. It’s the adage about the tail wagging the dog.But in this instance the tail is swinging the dog around the room and banging it off all four walls until it’s comatose.And that’s basically what’s happening to the real economy -- it’s going to be comatose before this is over. -- John Embry

John Whitehead: Government Eyes Are Watching You: We Are All Prisoners of the Surveillance State

First broadcast in America 50 years ago, The Prisoner—a dystopian television series described as “James Bond meets George Orwell filtered through Franz Kafka”—confronted societal themes that are still relevant today: the rise of a police state, the freedom of the individual, round-the-clock surveillance, the corruption of government, totalitarianism, weaponization, group think, mass marketing, and the tendency of humankind to meekly accept their lot in life as a prisoner in a prison of their own making.

Perhaps the best visual debate ever on individuality and freedom, The Prisoner (17 episodes in all) centers around a British secret agent who abruptly resigns only to find himself imprisoned and interrogated in a mysterious, self-contained, cosmopolitan, seemingly tranquil retirement community known only as the Village. The Village is an idyllic setting with parks and green fields, recreational activities and even a butler.

While luxurious and resort-like, the Village is a virtual prison disguised as a seaside paradise: its inhabitants have no true freedom, they cannot leave the Village, they are under constant surveillance, their movements are tracked by surveillance drones, and they are stripped of their individuality and identified only by numbers.

The series’ protagonist, played by Patrick McGoohan, is Number Six.

Number Two, the Village administrator, acts as an agent for the unseen and all-powerful Number One, whose identity is not revealed until the final episode.

“I am not a number. I am a free man,” was the mantra chanted on each episode of The Prisoner, which was largely written and directed by McGoohan. ...

Baby Frog: Mama, who is smarter- a chicken or a frog? Mama Frog: We are of course!!
Baby Frog: How do you know? Mama Frog: Well, who ever heard of Kentucky Fried Frog?
- - -
Why are frogs so happy? They eat whatever bugs them!